Wisconsin

Sheep shearers in short supply

Strength-sapping, specialized, seasonal craft seeks students

Sheep unit manager Todd Taylor demonstrates shearing at the University of Wisconsin's Agricultural Research Station in Arlington. A professional can shear a sheep in two to three minutes.

Taylor shears a crossbreed ewe lamb. "You aren't going to get really good at shearing unless you do it a lot," Taylor said.

An unsheared sheep waits at UW-Madison's Agricultural Research Station near Arlington.

Michael Sears

Todd Taylor, sheep unit manager for the UW-Madison Animal Science Department, scoops up the wool after shearing a lamb at the Agricultural Research Station in Arlington. The university offers a two-day class in sheep shearing. Demand for shearers is high.

David Kier lives in his van for weeks at a time, sleeping on a foam mattress but never lacking work.

A traveling sheep shearer, he's been clipping wool for 30 years. And his skills are more in demand than ever as shearers retire because of age or injury, and as fewer young people line up for the labor-intensive profession.

The shortage of shearers has become so acute that some farmers depend on help from hundreds of miles away. Without the traveling shearers, the farmers couldn't cash in on the current high prices for wool used for expensive clothing and crafts.

"If our shearer were to quit, I don't know what we would do. He is the god that we bow down to," joked Carol Wagner with Hidden Valley Farm, near Manitowoc.

Kier, from Eleva, shears thousands of sheep a year across the Upper Midwest. It's a back-straining job in which he spends much of the day stooped over an animal, carrying its weight on the balls of his feet while he runs the clippers over its wool.

Sometimes he gets kicked, bitten or butted by animals that don't want a haircut. He works at a fast pace, handling about 160 sheep a day.

"It's very grueling work, and it's difficult to learn," Kier said. "But I don't regret it at all. I meet a lot of nice people, and I get a lot of home-cooked meals" while working on family farms.

Sheep are usually sheared once a year, most often in the spring or early summer before it gets too hot for their winter coats.

Wisconsin ranks 18th among states with the most sheep, according to the American Sheep Industry Association. It wasn't always difficult to find shearers, farmers say, but that's changed as the traveling tradesmen have retired, quit or not come here as often from other states.

Now, farmers sometimes wait weeks for a shearer. They can do the work themselves, but it's a difficult skill to master.

The tools are razor-sharp, and the sheep are squirming while being clipped.

"You can make a bloody mess of things" by not doing it right, said Scott Clungeon, a sheep farmer near New London.

Most shearers in Wisconsin have other jobs in addition to shearing a few months of the year. Kier does it full time by traveling to other states or working overseas in New Zealand and Scotland.

"If you are really serious about shearing, you can go a lot of places and see a lot of things that tourists never see," Kier said.

For many years, shearers from Australia and New Zealand came to the United States in the spring to work on farms here. But the weak U.S. dollar, coupled with high travel costs and difficulties getting work permits, has dissuaded some of them from making the trip this year.

There's a pressing need to get young Americans interested in shearing, said Jim Bristol, a shearer from Michigan and chairman of the American Wool Council.

The University of Wisconsin offers a class in sheep shearing at its Arlington agricultural research station. There are usually about 25 students in the class that costs $50, including lunch, and takes two days to complete.

The students include farmers or sheep hobbyists wanting to do their own shearing. By the end of the second day of the class, however, some agree that it's worth paying a professional shearer about $4 per animal to get the job done.

"You aren't going to get really good at shearing unless you do it a lot," said Todd Taylor, who teaches the course and manages the university's sheep herd.

Besides travel costs, there are other expenses associated with shearing. A professional set of combs, clippers and other equipment can cost about $2,500, although some shearers start with basic tools costing a few hundred dollars.

It's a good idea to carry adequate health insurance if you want to pursue shearing full time, since the work takes a toll on your hips, back and knees.

"I miss the sheep and the people who raise them, but I don't miss the pain," said Mike Klann, who sheared for 41 years before calling it quits in 2007.

"I pushed myself really hard the last few years. The doctors said I had to quit shearing or I would end up in a wheelchair," said Klann, 60, of Reedsville.

Some shearers work only on large farms, where they can make more money by handling a large number of animals. Others prefer small farms, where they handle fewer animals and can work at a more relaxed pace.

Landscapers, police officers, teachers and farmers are among the part-time shearers who travel between farms in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota. The experienced ones don't need to advertise much and sometimes turn down jobs that don't suit them.

"I have not advertised in the last three years. The season is short, but there are more than enough sheep to go around," said Chris Anfang, a shearer from Rice Lake.

Anfang charges $30 per farm visit and $2 for every animal he shears. He covers more than 100 farms a year in about a 100-mile radius from his home.

Confidence needed

Many shearers work alone but have the farmer round up the sheep and hand them over for clipping one at a time.

The job requires a steady hand, concentration and confidence. Sheep can tell whether a shearer is nervous or unskilled, and they react by being uncooperative.

Some of the best U.S. shearers received their training in New Zealand and go back there on occasion for work and sharpening their skills. It takes 10 years of full-time shearing to become highly proficient, according to Kier.

Kier has a bachelor's degree in animal science from the University of Arizona. He and his wife, Kathy, have a farm that she takes care of while he is on the road for up to three weeks at a time.

Kier enjoys the nomadic lifestyle, including living in his van. He wants to keep shearing as long as he's physically able to do the job.

Shearing is a lost art as well as a job, said Jerome Huber, a shearer from Oxford for more than 50 years. Huber's sons and grandsons also are shearers.

"You can make a decent day's wages doing this, but you have to be tough and strong," he said.

About Rick Barrett

Rick Barrett covers manufacturing, telecom and agriculture. He has received Best in Business awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and was co-recipient of a Barlett & Steele award for investigative business journalism.

About Rick Barrett

Rick Barrett covers manufacturing, telecom and agriculture. He has received Best in Business awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and was co-recipient of a Barlett & Steele award for investigative business journalism.